inwashington,rightnow,about the fiscal cliff?presidentobamasays,look, let's extend the bush tax cuts, lower tax rates for 98% of all taxpayers including the middle class, right now. we can -- i'll sign it today. took out his pen at the news conference and the republicans saying, no, no, no, we can't do that until we decide what we'll do with the top 2% of taxpayers. why wouldn't the middle class voter look at that and say, these guys, the g.o.p., are all about protecting the rich? >> chris, two things, one, we as a republican party need to make it clear and we will make it clear we are not the party of big. big businesses, big banks, big wall street, big bailouts, when it comes to the tax code, the republican party have toic mate clear we are for a lower, flatter, simpler tax code and you can maintain progress sift and there are ideas to limit deductions and get rid of carvouts and we aren't the party trying to protect the rich. we are the party that wants growth, pro-growth parties and let the democratic party be a government growing revenues and we want to grow the private sector a

. >> chris: stay tuned. we'llberightback.♪ >> presidentbarackobama: myhope is that this is going to be the beginning of a fruitful process, where we are able to come to an agreement, that will reduce our deficit. >> we're serious about cutting spending and solving our fiscal dilemma and i believe we can do this and avert the fiscal cliff that is right in front of us today. >> chris: president obama and speaker boehner sounding up beat friday about prospects for cutting a deal to avoid the fiscal cliff and we're back now with the panel. so, after the president and congressional leaders met at the white house, on friday, the rhetoric was reassuring, the question is, is it real? do you get any sense, bob and this is the subject of your new book, that they really do see, are beginning to see a path to a compromise or are they trying to reassure nervous consumers before the christmas holidays and, investors because the stock market is done a thousand points. >> everyone is nervous about this. this is the last chance and the next six weeks could be six weeks that shook the united state

on inwashingtonrightnowabout the fiscal cliff.presidentobamasayslet's extend the bush tax cuts, the lower tax rates for 98% of all taxpayers, including the middle class right now. i'll sign it today and took out his pen at the news conference. and the republicans saying, no, no, no, we can't do that until we decide what we are going to do with the top two percent of taxpayers. why wouldn't a middle class voter look at that and say these guys in the gop are all about protecting the rich? >> chris, two things. one, we as a republican party need to make it very clear, and we are going to make it very clear we around the party of big. business businesses, big banks, big wall street, big bailouts. when it comes to the tax code, we are for a lower, simpler, platter tax code. you there were ideas to limit deductions for the wealthy, there have been ideas to get rid of some of these things but we aren't the party trying to broke the rich. they can protect themselves. we are the party that wants pro growth period. let the democratic party be the party of government growing revenues. we want to gro

abouthumanrightsviolationsis for the president,presidentobamatoengage burmese leaders directly. and the final stop on the president's itinerary has been cambodian that's where he'll attend a summit with the association of southeast asian nations and while he's there, just like in burma, white house officials say the president will bring up cambodia's less than impressive record on human rights when he sees their prime minister. back to you in new york. >> clayton: much was made of course of china and asia during the run up to the general election. and president obama speaking extensively about it, and the president speaking about it. is the economy going to be a focus, and international trade regions with in nation and an important trip the president scheduled right after the election. >> that's obviously going to be a big focus for sure at that southeast asian nation summit. once he gets to cambodia and look at a picture right now of the scene where the press conference is going to be. we're told that the way they do the press conferences there, they like to have an mc who cal

into a recession. on friday,presidentobamaandcongressional leaders sat down to start negotiations about how to avoid that cliff and came out sounding optimistic. >> and i believe that we can do this and avert the fiscal cliff that is right in front of us today. >> we've already been through it before. so on friday i went to the capitol to ask house leader nancy pelosi how realistic it is that we'll get a deal done. leader pelosi, you all came out of the meeting with the president sounding pretty optimistic, pretty confident. but you've been there before. you said in july of 2011, called your talks with the gop about a grand bargain constructive saying you were optimistic that we can find a place where we can come together. obviously those talks failed, so what's changed, and why do you believe this optimism after this meeting? >> that was then. this is now. the urgency is so much greater, so i'm optimistic because i think it's very clear the american people expect and deserve and want to see us get this job done. >> did anything that speaker boehner said make you optimistic? was it just tha